Burden of a Prime
by Amor de Prime
Summary: Once upon a time Optimus Prime had a family. People to let him be a child, to be wrong, to protect him, and to hold the world up for him. This is his origins re-imagined.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Peace

Primus smiled as he felt his original creations' spark fill with immense happiness. His original creation danced and spun holding hands with another one of his creations. Primus thought back to the days when he had to fight off his brother Unicorn. He could not do it himself as he was equal in power to his destructive brother. Although they were not the only gods in the universe, it was a common rule among gods not to interfere with each other's business. Therefore, no god stood up to Unicorn as he went about destroying worlds, creations of other gods.

Primus could not stand to see the waste, the destruction, and the pain of the other gods that threaten to fill the universe with sorrow and darkness. It was not right, it was not fair, and he could not stand by and watch. So began the war against two brothers, and the creation of his warriors. All thirteen of them were created in their image, for what other image could work better? All thirteen were gifted by Primus a unique gift. All thirteen of them beat Unicron and peace was restored. Primus found that he loved them, and could bring himself to end them even as their purpose was fulfilled. Primus found that his spark was full of fatherly love, one that Primus had only heard off before his Primes. What better home, what better provider than I? Primus thought and out of that immense love, he locked himself away into Cybertron to give both home and patrimony to his new creations.

And so it was that Primus created more Transformers. To give company, to flourish, and to give new purpose to his Original creations who distinguished themselves as Primes and took on the role of building, protecting, and guiding a new world. Soon it was that one of the newer Transformers caught the eye of Prima. A pretty little femme who loved to learn and share her knowledge. It was her intelligence that caught his spark and Primus gave all his creations a new gift. The gift of bonding. Now his creations could bond their sparks to their chosen loved ones and feel what they feel. Share memories and thoughts. Be close to each other without having to be physically together.

And so it was that Prima and his Nova danced drunk on love and their sparks hummed a happy ode of love. And it was then that Primus wondered what it would be if the hum of their sparks combined? What new happy spark would be created? And so Primus gave his creations a second gift. The gift of creation of life. It was so that Prima and Nova's happy sparks created a new spark , a sparkling, one that they named Alpha Trion. And so the second generation of Primes began and Primus delighted in his new grandson. They were all his children in his mind and now he had all these new grandchildren, but Alpha was directly from his original creations and that held a special place in Primus's spark.

When Alpha Trion grew up, raised to be humble, noble, and respectful, Primus gave his grandson a gift. The Convent of Primes. Alpha Trion had inherited the love of knowledge from Nova and Primus wanted to nourish this love further. And so it was that together with his Aunts and Uncles, Alpha Trion began to take more interest in the creation of the new world, and Iacon's Library and Record Archives was born. With Alpha Trion at its head, the convent as his guide. Soon his Transformers began to spread out and energy was in high demand. The Primes decided to harvest suns to ease the strain on Primus and Solus Prime built sun harvesters on planets that had no inhabitants. 

It was the promise they had made. No planet with life would be destroyed with the destruction of their sun. Life was sacred and precious and loved by their creator. The Transformer race flourished and Primus spark was content. Then Solus Prime fell in love. A young mech that would come into her shop always looking for tools that would make the hard labor his fellow transformers in Kaon easier. Always worrying about them, always looking out for them. And so it was with joyus news that she went to Prima's dwellings to tell her happy news.

"Prima?" She called out as she ducked into her brother's home. Alpha Trion was waiting for her. The Convent had told him to expect a joyous surprise. Even now as Alpha Trion glanced down the convent read; " A joyous occasion to be announced- so it was! Primus granted!" as the event came to pass.

"Prima isn't home today, he is sun harvesting."

"Oh" Solus frowned and then smiled as she hugged her nephew close to her frame. " Then I guess you will be the first to know. I'm sparked!" she gloated. Alpha Trion smiled it was a joyous occasion indeed! A cousin!

" Congratulations to you! Primus has smiled favorably upon you!" Alpha Trion said warmly, saying the traditional congratulation. The same one his parent's had received when he was sparked. And so the small family sat for hours talking. Enjoying each other's company until Solus said her goodbyes and Alpha Trion was alone again.

He sighed and looked at his Convent wondering how his cousin would make their family closer and bigger. Help the Primes getting closer to the citizens they now ruled over. Suddenly Alpha Trion's mind was filled with visions. Visions that were not his. He saw the little mech and the goodness and pureness in the sparklings optics and spark. He felt the love and loyalty and happiness his creation would bring. And something wonderful flooded Alpha Trion as the Primus gifted vision ended. Peace. This child would bring peace. And Alpha Trion did not stop to think why would they need peace as he stared out of Iacon's tallest tower, out to the sea of lights that was his golden city and his spark glowed happily.

As Alpha Trion basked in the peace he felt; unaware of the Convent, a new prophecy appeared. "Let there be Pax- so it was! Primus granted!"


	2. Chapter 2 Goodbyes

Chapter 2 Goodbyes

AUTHORS NOTES: Hello everyone! Thank you for coming back for Chapter 2. I wanted to introduce myself. I've always wanted to publish a story here being inspired by all the amazing authors here. When I read that Hollywood wouldn't be making a stand alone of Optimus because "he is a robot of few words" I was inspired to finally do it. If we fans can create these stories, they can too. So I thought what if you can create one story line to connect it all and fix the holes. Please review and let me know what you think.

Preparations were under way at Solus Prime's house as she awaited the hour her sparkling would emerge. New sparks were presented at the Well of Sparks where they would chose a form and officially be welcomed to Cybertron. Her mate ran down a list of names for their sparkling. Sunburst, Solrious, Midknight, and Optima.

"Are these names good? What kind of names does a Prime need?" Her mate asked her, worried that he wasn't worthy of naming his child.

"Those are great names" She soothed. " Our child will be just like any other child." She laughed at the incredulous look he shot her way. "Okay," she begrudgingly admitted as she took a seat next to her mate. " Just like any other child, expect he will have to be guarded, will have an impeccable education, will have a special gift, and will be a leader among his peers. But otherwise just like any child."

"Oh Solus, I hope I don't mess this up," he groaned and leaned on her shoulder.

"You can't," She simply replied, " I'm a Prime and I won't let you."

Then her chest began to glow. It was time. They stood up excited and nervous. Solus wished her siblings had returned already. They were taking an awfully long time this harvest. Maybe the planet is just very far. The couple made their way to the door with hushed whispers and turned off their lights. They jumped when loud and demanding hands knocked on their door.

Solus drew her knife, a deadly little thing she had forged, as her mate went ahead and grasped the handle. They took one last look at each other before focusing on the door and bracing themselves. As Prime and as one that was sparked they knew it was a possibility some mecha would get it into their minds to harm them. Her mate took a deep breath and opened the door a crack. He was easily pushed aside as a mech pushed the door open further and entered the house.

Solus whipped her hand back but her blade was already flying. Alpha Trion ducked and the blade landed outside.

"Alpha!" Solus hissed, "What would Prima say if I killed you?!"

Alpha rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. Her chest glowing just a little brighter than before.

" Solus, listen and listen carefully."

Solus felt her spark fill with dread. Her nephew had never spoken to her that way, his optics stern but betraying his fear. "Prima isn't coming back. No one is coming back. Megatronous he turned against our family. And Prima, we are in danger, your sparkling is in danger. We have to go and we have to go now."

"Alpha, the Sparkling"

"I know, the Covenant has given me the location of the Allspark. Your sparkling will be ok. But we have to move." He walked into the hallway the nervous couple behind him. He opened a broom closet and raised his hands to his spark. "Primus, grant us leadway."

The ground shook and Solus watched as her floor crumbled by the power of her father, creator Primus, and tunnels were revealed. They would be walking into Cybertron itself! Her mate looked at them and felt inadequate. The Primes would be safe guided by their creator. The Primes that has gone ahead of them to the Allspark, had lucked out because they had been on Earth. Alpha Trion had already done so much for them, he would be able to keep his family safe, he on the other hand, would only get in the way.

"Go on ahead" He said quietly locking the door.

"What? No!" Solus said turning away from her nephew, " No, you need to come with us, my brother he will kill us! I lost my whole family today! I can't, I won't lose you either!"

"Solus," her mate rushed forward and cupped her face in his hands. " Sweetspark, I need you to go, go with Alpha, go where Primus tells you to go. Get off this slag forsaken planet if you need to. But stay alive, stay safe, and protect our sparkling."

"No," Solus whimpered. Her optics wide, beseeching, and searching her mates face.

" Darling, if Alpha, no Alpha is right. Megatronous is on his way. The first place he will look for you is here. I will stay here and keep him busy so that you two can have more time. You didn't lose your whole family. We are all here in this small room. We are about to welcome a new member! Please go, let me do my duty as our family's protector."

Coolant dripped from the couples optics as they kissed their last kiss and hands slipped away one last time. Alpha Trion knew what the Covenant read; " The last embrace given-so it was! Primus given!" and a bitterness toward his grandfather filled his spark. And so as Aunt and Nephew turned into the tunnels the floor sealed and only the light of their optics, sparks, and spark to be lit their path forward.


	3. Chapter 3 Optimus Prime

Chapter 3 Optimus Prime

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the story. I don't have a steady schedule for uploading chapters but I will try to keep it within a week. Without ado, please enjoy and review please!

They walked the tunnels in silence. The only sounds echoing were their steps and the coolant that steadily fell from Solus's optics.

"He will die."

Alpha closed his optics. It wasn't a question. It was a statement, confidently spoken. And in his bitter spark Alpha knew it was true. Her mate would die in a face off with Megatronous. Beings created to destroy Unicron would make short work of a citizen and one who killed his fellows.

" Let's get you to the Allspark, Aunt." He replied.

Silence.

"You have the Covenant."

Alpha Trion continued his quick pace. Megatronous was near.

" You could have warned us."

Alpha Trion sighed. He knew that this would come. The truth was that the Covenant was more like a record of Cybertron. He took pleasure in recording Cybertron's society in its sacred pages. Solus's own creation, the Quill at his aid. But the Covenant had a dark side to it. It told him the future to a certain he tired to reader further into the future he came against an unexpected block. The future was written in different tongues. The handwriting was what bothered him the most. The handwriting was his.

There was a point when the writing changed and Alpha Trion wondered if that was the sign that he had joined the Allspark.

" You know that I couldn't have predicted.."

"But you surely read of a future without Primes!"

"I'm sorry about your mate, Solus."

Solus opened her mouth but instead choked out a sob. It wasn't her nephew's fault. As Primes that's all they knew. How to survive. How to hold back tears and hold their heads tall. There wasn't anyone to blame. Megatronous how could he do this? How could her beloved brother be after them? The Primes, they had to stick together, they only had each other to shoulder the burden.

"I'm sorry," She whispered. Alpha Trion wrapped his arm around his aunt's shoulders and they continued their journey into Cybertron. Solus brought her hands to spark, where the other smaller spark dancing in impatience to come into the world. "Oh little spark, I wish I could shield you against your heritage, your very name." Solus thought quietly sending a burst of love toward her little spark.

Suddenly Solus was washed over in a field of love and she looked up wondering how strong Alpha's field could be when she realized it wasn't Alpha; the Allspark was up ahead. Alpha Trion removed his arm from Solus shoulders and stepped back to give her room.

Solus felt the gentle tug and coax from the Allspark for her to open her chest plates. She knew she had to, and that it would be alright but yet she felt terror at having to separate herself from her little spark. All sparks that had dimmed went to live here in the glory of Primus and now she had to let the cube pull her spark to be welcomed to the world. Suddenly Prima was there, and Vector, and Nexus. They all were, blue spirits sparkling in their own brilliant light.

They smiled at her and circled around as Solus finally let go off her little spark. Solus found that instead of feeling a disconnect she felt as if her conscious just stretched reaching out further. The Prime ohhed and ahhed as the new spark was caressed by tendrils of energy reaching out from the Allspark and a shape began to take form.

A beautiful, precious mech was set gently into her arms. Solus gasped. He couldn't be hers, could he? Bright cerulean optics looked up at her full of curiosity and innocence. His little blue head ending in delicate finials just like hers, looked around at all his smiling uncles and cousins. His frame a mix of red and blue just like her mate.

"That's fine looking mech. Strong just like you." Prima said leaning over her shoulder and smiling at the mech who laughed and reached up towards him.

" What his name?" asked Onyx. Name? Solus thought back to how just a few hours ago she was sitting with her mate discussing names. Seemed like a lifetime ago. She looked up at her brothers, 11 lifetimes ago. What was it that he had said? Optima? No that wouldn't do they had a little mech. She smiled as the made her mind up.

"Optimus. Optimus Prime."

"All hail!" Her brothers and nephew chanted. And one by one her brothers took their leave. Having met their newest family member and with horror in her spark Solus watched them all disappear into the Allspark. She realized that Alpha and Optimus were the only males left. They inherited the "throne". And she held her spark closer to her chest.

Destiny rarely comes at the moment of our choosing.


	4. Chapter 4 Primus

Chapter 4 Primus

Author's Notes: Hello everyone! Sorry for keeping you waiting. The county fair just opened and lucky me gets to work in it! I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please let me know what you think and without further ado..

Alpha Trion breathed a sigh of relief as they quietly entered his apartment in Iacon's towers above the archives. Solus was hunched over her sparkling, who was blissfully asleep in his mother's arms. She wore a hooded cape made of delicate metal alloys in an attempt to conceal her identity.

"Solus, rest now. You will need your strength." Alpha whispherd and opened his door to his room. She looked up at him her optics wide and unsure.

"It's fine, aunt, I will keep a look out and I will wake you promise."

Solus nodded and walked into the room.

"Alpha," she hesitated.

"Yes?"

"Leave the door open, please?" she asked quietly, rubbing her chest.

"Of course," Alpha Trion said letting go of the door handle and noting her vigorous rubbing. He glanced at the sparkling who was blissfully unaware and sleep.

All for the better, he thought sadly. He knew that the sparkling's father must be dead by now as Solus had been rubbing her chest plates the whole way. The ache left behind by your missing half was one a mecha wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. It is rumored that every spark brought into creation had an equal and opposite partner and that brought together one was truly whole. The pain of losing such a loved one has driven many mechas to madness and even death, as desperate sparks sought the relief of their missing halves. Solus was a strong femme with a strong reslution and was handling it well. And well she was a Prime. And Primes rarely showed emotion. And little Optimus never having met his father, never had to suffer the ache that losing a parent left. The lesser ache that was eating at Alpha Trion now.

Alpha Trion pressed a button on the side of his wall-length windows to let the metal shutters down on all but one window which overlooked the city, a sea of golden light. In the room Solus curled around her sparkling under her hooded cape. With a heavy spark Alpha Trion opened the Covenant seeking guidance from Primus.

Alpha Trion couldn't understand why Primus was allowing this. He had the power to make it stop! He had the power to bring back the Primes! He had the power to bring back his parents! Alpha Trion leaned his head back and allowed himself to feel the ache resonating in his spark where his bond to his parents had been. Yet he knew that Primus would not interfere. Primus believed that freedom was the right of every sentient being.

And as the wisest of the Primes, Alpha Trion knew that without evil, without sorrow, there could be no true good, no true happiness…

Suddenly the Covenant glowed and Primus himself appeared.

Alpha Trion gasped and stood up quickly, scrambling to show his respects in a half bow. Primus reached out and grabbed his shoulder stopping him.

"Be still, grandson." he said gently. Alpha Trion glanced over at Solus who was still recharging in the room as he took his seat once more.

" She will be fine," Primus reassured him and took a seat next to him by the window.

" I can feel the bitterness in your spark, young one. Rest assured I'm just as disappointed as you are."

Alpha Trion looked up at the gleaming face of his god, of his grandfather.

"Then why are you allowing this to occur?!" Alpha Trion demanded, not really caring that his father, Primus rest his spark, would pale at his son's rudeness.

" You know why I cannot do anything, Alpha Trion." Primus said simply. Primus looked out at the sea of lights and felt a twinge of sadness mixed with the pride he felt at how far, at how at home, his creations had gotten. Yet knowing that this glory would not last forever, not now that his Primes had come home and Megatronus had set the events into motion.

Alpha Trion stared out at the glow trying to hold back the coolant that threatened to spill over his optics.

"Where can we go, Primus? Megatronus will look for us here once he figures out where I live. The sparkling will need shelter. We won't be able to hide in the shadows forever. "

Primus picked up the Covenant and it opened to fresh page and words began to appear before Alpha Trion's optics. He read the glittering symbols and he felt his spark freeze in his chest.

He hands began to shake and he shook his head. He stood up and backed away from Primus.

"No, no,no,no,no. Absolutely, not." Primus closed the book sadly without looking at the text.

"Alpha Trion," Primus said gently.

"No! Save them! " Alpha Trion pointed towards the last reminders of his family still asleep despite his screams. The coolant that he had been holding back finally spilling over.

" Don't you dare leave us alone! Don't you dare write us out of history!"

"Alpha Trion, out of all your uncles, Megatronus took the least interest in you. He wouldn't be able to recognize your optics if you were to change your appearance. Megatronous is the only Prime who has never laid an optic on Optimus. It's the only way!"

"No, hide her! Hide her signature, hide Optimus. Why must she die? She just had her sparkling. Let her be there for him! Let her see him grow!"

"Alpha Trion, you said it yourself." Primus said standing. " The sparkling needs shelter, you cannot hide in the shadows forever."

"Don't! Don't use my words against me! T-to justify what you are allowing to happen!"

"Oh my creations, " Primus groaned. He placed his hand on Alpha Trion's shoulder and Alpha Trion felt his frame refreshen and his mind clear.

" I love you. I love all my children. But sometimes when you love intensely you have to do things you don't want to do. You have to let your creations go. "

Primus turned towards the room where Solus and the new spark slept.

"And go you must, for Megatronus has found out where you live and he knows the child is here. He will be here soon. "

With that Primus disappeared leaving Alpha Trion in the dark, the only light coming from his dimmed optics and the glowing city below. Shaking himself, Alpha Trion put the Covenant into his subspace and rushed to wake his aunt.

"Come Solus," he whispered lightly shaking her.

"He's coming, isn't he?" She asked, immediately alert. She picked up her sparkling and carefully tucked him away into her cape. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of screams. Alpha Trion ran to the window and saw residents running and fires starting. The sound of running bots filled the hallways outside and screams told Alpha Trion is was too late to run out that way.

"Come Solus!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his office. He closed the door and ran to his desk where he pushed a button located right under the desk. When Alpha Trion wanted to go to the market without having his fellow archivists rush to him with new problems or questions he made his way down the tower through this tunnel.

He took Optimus from Solus and she lowered herself into the tunnel. Just then there was a loud banging on the door.

"Hurry!" Solus pleaded as she reached up to grab her son. Alpha Trion felt static in the room and then suddenly an explosion rocked the tower and Solus screamed. Megatronus had blasted through the front doors. Alpha Trion who had been knocked down, scrambled to the trapdoor.

" I know you are in there! Hands where I can see them, let me see the new Prime!" Megatronous taunted as he charged up his weapon ready to blow the second door down. Alpha Trion jumped in and closed the entrance just as Megatronus blasted the door apart. Solus thrust her bundle at Alpha Trion and he instinctively held Optimus against his spark. Solus reached into her sub-space and pulled a glowing stick.

The glowing stick expanded and transformed and suddenly Solus was welding her forge. Alpha Trion stood back, unsure of what Solus would do. If Megatronus came in, should he just run with Optimus? Alpha Trion remembered the words in the Covenant and shook his head. No, Solus would be ok, and she would make it through.

Solus gripped her forge with both hands and pulled the forge back over her shoulder. She waited, steadying her breath, and narrowing her optics. Solus felt the pure energy that washed over her forge, her gift from Primus, as it recognized her signature, ready to do her bidding. The trapdoor screeched as sharp hands started to yank it up. Alpha Trion felt his tanks drop and gripped the sleeping bundle tighter. Solus however, didn't flinch and concentrated on her target. Her brothers hand. As soon as Megatronous put his hand under the door in his attempt to open it, Solus brought her forge down with a mighty scream.

Agony.

The screech that erupted from Megatronus was unlike any scream Alpha Trion had ever heard nor desired to ever hear again. Solus calmly put her forge down by the entrance and took Optimus out of Alpha Trions shocked arms. Making soothing noises at her sparkling as the screaming continued. And Alpha Trion could see why.

Solus had crushed and _welded _Megatronus hand to the door and opening edge. Effectively closing the entrance and buying them more time. With one last timid and horrified glance at the mighty forge Solus had left behind, Alpha Trion ran into the darkness after his family.


	5. Chapter 5 The Greatest Gift

Chapter 5 The Greatest Gift

Author's note: Hello everyone, sorry for the unexpected hiatus. Many have asked me if the stories are dead. Rest assured they are not. I will try to upload at least once a month. Life threw me for a ride the last couple of months. I was laid off and had to take jobs with crazy hours. Ultimately I love writing this stories and I will continue to do so. So without further ado, please enjoy!

Alpha Trion was grateful for the panic in the streets. It seemed that Megatronus was not alone. Already, he had minions and they were trashing the once proud streets of Iacon. Citizens were running for cover as the buildings went up in flames. Many were wearing cloaks and Solus fit right in with the rest. She ran ahead of him, her cloak pulled in tight to hide her precious cargo. They ducked around shadows, ignoring screams, and hiding their faces from passing police bots.

They made their way to the edge of the buildings, where it all gave away to the openness of the round plaza. A beautiful, though now broken, fountain spouted energon and it was beginning to pool. Many bots dashed across the plaza, afraid to be out in the open. Energon noisefully splashing as it was traversed. Solus and Alpha Trion looked at each other. Their optics agreeing to run for it. They steeled themselves and were about to join the crowds when a wretched laugh broke the air and one of Megatronus's minions fired into the crowd.

Alpha Trion watched in horror as citizens fell with splashes of energon and families were forced to leave their loved ones or risk being shot. He watched as a mech, red and gold, was struck at the neck and he fell into the pool of before he hit the ground.

"Steelfuse!" screamed another mech,this one silver and blue, turning back when he realized his partner was hit. He dropped himself to his knees, energon splashing around him, as he picked his bonded mate up from the energon. Bots continued to fall around him, but to Alpha Trion, only they existed in this moment in time. Only the spark-broken blue mech cradling his loved one's lifeless body and crying to the heavens above.

_This can't be no! _

And all too abruptly, Alpha Trion was reminded just how real this was. A blast hit the energon directly, igniting the flammable liquid. In a second, the plaza was ablaze. The blue mech was overtaken by the flames at once, his frame had been coated in the leaking energon, both the plaza's fountain and his bonded's. He screamed but continued to cling to his mate and stayed in place. Alpha Trion closed his optics and looked away from the Unicronian image. The screaming stopped and Alpha Trion knew that blue and red were now one with the allspark. Whole once more.

Solus moved then, running back into the safety of the buildings and Alpha Trion let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He got up from where he was crouching and joined Solus, trying and failing for the most part, to block out the screams that continued in the plaza.

It was a small blessing that Optimus continued to sleep, and Alpha Trion wondered if the child was deaf.

"What do we do, Alpha!" Solus cried. "Take out the Covenant." She pleaded. Alpha Trion felt his spark grow impossibly colder; remembering what Primus had revealed to him.

"No," Alpha Trion shook his head. "We have to keep moving,"

"Moving? Where? Through the lake of fire? Toward the Hall of Records where Megatronus is?" Solus hissed. "If it were just me, I'd take on the lake of fire, but Optimus won't survive the heat!"

"We can go around the perimeter," Alpha Trion began, Solus hissed and pushed Alpha Trion down as more of Megatronus minions rushed past.

"Look, Alpha," Solus said as she looked up to check if anyone was near. "Either you take the Covenant out or I'll coax it out."

Alpha Trion relented, knowing that all Solus would have to do is will the book to her. He solemnly took the book out and traded it for the sparkling. Solus opened the book, hopeful for a path to safety to be revealed. A weapon or tool, perhaps, that she could forge. But the Covenant opened to reveal the will of Primus and Alpha Trion looked down at the sleeping mech in his arms. He didn't want to see Solus when she realized that there was no way out.

Primus had different plans for the three Primes huddled against the wall, hiding in the shadows while the center plaza burned. Primus envisioned a future where the Primes faded in the minds of Cybertronians as real leaders and became part of creation myths. One where Alpha Trion became a regular citizen in the mind of the living and took on a new appearance. And a future where Optimus was raised by him.

Alpha Trion rejected the future promised in the prophecy. He wasn't ready to lose the last bit of family he had. He wasn't ready to raise a sparkling. He wasn't ready to be alone. He finally looked up when Solus said nothing. She was sitting with the book on her lap and her optics locked on the sleeping figure in his arms.

Optimus was a strange child, Alpha Trion thought. The sparkling slept through most of the ordeal. He had chirped plenty when they strolled in the cool darkness of the tunnels of inner Cybertron. Solus had cried the whole time, laughing, cuddling, and feeding the tiny being. He had promptly gone to sleep as soon as the sparkling-grade energon was gone. And had rarely opened his optics since. Alpha Trion doubted his optics had seen the Cybertronian moon yet. Dawn was quickly approaching and condensation was beginning to form.

Solus must have been thinking along the same lines as she hummed and took Optimus Prime back into her arms.

"I wonder if this is Primus's doing." she mused. "I am grateful in that case. If Optimus dreams and doesn't hear the screams and feels the heat of the fires or sees the fear in our optics. Then all the better."

She looked up at Alpha Trion then. "It's OK, you know." Coolant spilled over his optics then. She reached over and wiped the tears away. "Oh Alpha. I'm so sorry." She reached over and gave him a one armed hug. She held him there a moment. Alpha Trion closed his optics and allowed himself to be lulled by the soft short breaths of his cousin and warmth of Solus Prime's spark.

"You've been so brave, young one. You do Prima proud." At the mention of his father, Alpha Trion pulled away thinking how Solus and his father would do anything to protect their children but Primus wasn't.

"I'm so angry with Primus! Why does he do this to his children! Why is he letting us die?"

"Shhhhh" Solus whispered and grabbed his hand.

" Solus," Alpha Trion started. But Solus took the Quill and signed the Covenant.

"Alpha, the Primes aren't Primus's only children. All those sparks dying out there because of my brother's greed, they are Primus children too. We were just special because we are the first, charged with caring for all our siblings. You and Optimus and their children, you are the next generations. You are _our_ direct children. "

Solus took a pause looking down at her sleeping child and then looked up at Alpha Trion with glistening optics.

"This." She said giving Optimus a small shake."This is Primus's greatest gift. The gift of seeing you and my child live. The opportunity for you to live full lives and not have the burden of being a Prime on you. The gift of knowing that you and Optimus will have each other. I know it's asking a lot from you, to take care of your cousin. I know it's a lot losing all of us, and I know it's a lot to take in. But Alpha, you have always been the wisest, and if anyone can raise Optimus, it's Prima's child."

Optimus opened his optics then. The deep cerulean bright as he chirped up at Alpha Trion and Solus. Coolant dropped from Solus's optics then. She smiled and lifted the sparkling up to her face. She nuzzled her sparkling and he chirped back happily. Kissing the sparkling's helm finals, she stood up straight to her full height, Alpha Trion was at a loss for words.

He understood that a parent would do anything for his child. He had seen it in the behavior of their citizens. He had read about it. He had experienced it, when Prima had traveled nonstop from lightyears away just to make it on time to see the dawning light of his 100th sparkday with him. He knew she was right, Primus greatest gift was preserving the children, and the more time he took hesitating the more children were lost.

Trembling, he took the Quill up and signed his designation right by Solus. The Covenant glowed then and the glow traveled up Alpha Trion's arms. He felt warm as he felt the power of Primus move through him. And just as when Primus had placed his hand on him, Alpha Trion felt re-energized and at peace.

His colors changed from the aqua green and gold to red and gold. His face grew a beard and his helm's crest was even more pronounced. Solus smiled at him and put a hand up to his face.

_Primus, he looks so much more like Prima, now. _Solus opened her mouth to say something when a small glow coming from her sparkling caught her attention. On a small area on the helm of her child was a new symbol and the same symbol glowed on Alpha Trion's helm. Prime it read.

" Since our language is now dead, this is our new distinguisher." Alpha Trion said sadly tracing his own etching.

"Don't teach Optimus our language, please?" Solus said removing her cloak and tucking it around Optimus. " It's safer for him, and better that he live unaware of what has happened today."

Solus cradled her sparkling one last time before sighing and handing her treasure over to Alpha Trion. Alpha Trion took his new charge into his arms and nodded once at Solus. Silently, promising to take care of the child. She smiled and then with one last wave, she ran out to the plaza.

The plaza was still engulfed in flames and poor sparks were still risking a fiery death by crossing. She looked up at Megatronus's minions. As soon as the night gave away to his bride the day, the moon would set on the last day everyone remembered who they were but these fools needed reminding on who _she_ was _now_.

With a hiss, Solus summoned her choice weapon. The Star Saber. Solus focused on the sword willing it from Prima's dwelling. All things she forged, had a piece of her spark and were extensions of her. Imbuing them with their fantastic powers. The sword landed in her outstretched hands just as the minions took notice of her.

Narrowing her optics, Solus held the glowing blade out in front of her it's sharp tip pointed toward the spark chamber of her enemy. The sword was missing it's matrix of leadership as that had to be buried, out Primus knows where, because of her brother. Her brother! Letting fresh anger flood her, she rushed to meet her brother's minions.

Alpha Trion looked down at his cousin. No, he couldn't keep thinking that his cousin was his cousin. He was his-grandson. The older he passed himself as, the longer he could maintain the farce until the sun set. He scanned the alleys and began to walk toward the Hall of Records. He would be safe there. _They _would be safe there.

The sparkling in his arms chirped blissfully unaware and Alpha Trion was glad that no one had seen Optimus. If the child's chirp caught the attention of anyone they wouldn't see anything more than a sparkling.

_Don't move, Alpha Trion Prime. _

Alpha Trion froze. He rarely was called his full name and the voice. His grandfather's voice had filled his head and his spark pulsed nervously wondering what he was about to rencounter. He tightened his arms around Optimus. Quietly sushing the child as he strained his audials to hear. He glanced around, spotting other mechs huddled in the shadows of the alley ways and darting around. He realized he was walking back home with very little concern compared to his fellow citizens.

Then he heard it. A pop so faint that if he wasn't straining to hear, he would have missed it. His uncle materialized in front of him and citizens around him yelped in fear and dropped down on one knee to greet the Prime. Alpha Trion upon seeing the others kneel realized that he should too, he was no longer a Prime as far as anyone was concerned. But it was a fraction too late, as he was the last one to make contact with the ground.

"You there!" Megatronous pointed at him. Alpha Trion shook and his spark plused impossibly fast. Slowly he raised his face and tried his best to avert his optics from the very mangled hand Megatronous now sported, courtesy of the Forge.

"What's your command, my Prime." Alpha Trion answered,casually readjusting his child, so his face remained hidden against his chest. But Megatronous was a season warrier, trained to notice details, and his optics narrowed and focused on the bundle the mech was trying to hide.

"What is your relationship to that child?" Megatronous demanded. He wouldn't discard the idea that his lovely sister would hide the child. He cursed his bad timing. If he hadn't wasted so much time fighting Prima, he would have made it a day earlier and would have finished his sister and ended the spark before it had emerged.

Alpha Trion cleared his throat and as evenly as he could replied. "My grandson,"

Megatronus sneered. "Where's the mother?"

"My daughter died. " Alpha Trion flinched as Megatronous reached out and yanked the cloak to reveal the sparkling's face. Alpha Trion thanked his grandfather that the cloak had remained over the Optimus's delicate finials. Megatronous would certainly recognize the family trait. Optimus looked up, innocence clashing with malevolence. Optimus chirped, a little hand breaking free of the cloak and reaching up.

"This is a new spark! When did the mother perish?!" Megatronous roared. This citizen had to be lying. This child may be the one he was looking for. Maybe he should just kill the sparkling and his supposed grandfather now.

A few citizens screamed and coward afraid to be caught up in the anger of the Prime gone mad. Alpha Trion jerked his sparkling back into the safety of his chest as Optimus began to cry. Anger welled up in his chest and his spark calmed with a fire that Alpha Trion had never known before. Standing up straighter, he answered back angrily. " She tried to run across the lake of fire your minions created!"

Megatronous was taken back, but only for a moment. He put his face right up to Alpha Trion who refused to back away.

"What is the child's name?" Megatronus had been semi close to his sister. She had proudly sworn up and down that if she had a little mech his name would be Optimus. Of course the citizen could lie, but if he did, he could trace him down. If Solus didn't have her child, he would rip the information from her processor.

"Answer!"

Alpha Trion clutched the child to his spark, his mind going damningly blank.

"O-" he stopped. Dear Primus! He had been so close to revealing his nephew but there was no taking the syllable back. Megatronous had heard the sound and jerked his head toward him in interest. He knew. He _knew_ Solus had named her son Optimus.

"Spit it out or I will crush both of your sparks, here and now!" Megatronous thundered moving forward menacingly.

_Think Alpha Trion, think! _

Alpha Trion could feel panic begin to seep into his field and pulled it in tighter.

_Wait! _

Megatronus began to reach for them.

_Trion. Replace the T sound for O and…_

_"_Orion!" Alpha Trion shouted. " Orion Pax" He added remembering the peaceful feeling he had received when he Solus had told him her happy news, and hopefully making it more credible to Megatronous.

With a sneer, Megatrnous lost interest as his sister commed her location. He would find the child any way. And with a pop he was gone.

Solus didn't have to wait long. She felt her brother's sick, evil, and _excited _feild wash over her as she looked around her from her perch on top of a high building. Less damage to city could be done if they battled higher than most of the buildings skylines.

He materialized in front of her, smirking as he sized her up. His sister wasn't in any special armor and the only weapon she had now was the Star Saber. A sword. He chuckled.

"Not very prepared, sister, feeling confident? Where's my new nephew?"

Solus laughed. She extended her sword toward him.

"If I could do that to your hand unarmed, imagine what I can do armed?"

But Megatronous wasn't that easily distracted.

" Tell me Solus," He drawled surveying the damage done to his hand. "Does the little bundle cry a lot? I would hate to have to deal with that racket. A least Alpha Trion went out quietly. Proud like his stupid father!"

Solus snarled and started to circle her former brother. He was lying. Trying to get a rise out of her. She know Alpha Trion lived and she knew her son's cries will never reach the audials of Megatronus.

"Once you were at least half the mech Alpha Trion was and now you don't even reach his ankles. You are a disgrace to the name Prime!"

He attacked her then, shooting at her while she dodged and deflected.

" You and all of them. Always thinking you were better than me! You the good in the universe and I, the evil in it to balance it!"

"You know it was not like that! You know we understood and even respected your role. But how could you?! How could you turn into Unicron's incarnate and killed us all!"

"Not all, Solus, not yet!" he flashed her a wicked grin. " I will hunt down Optimus and then Solus, then I will have killed you all!"

"I will never find him" Solus gasped, staggering back a few steps. "I will take his location to the grave!"

"Oh my dear sister, I don't think you understand." Megatronus took a few menacing steps toward his quickly tiring brethren. "Death cannot stop me from getting what I want. You see, whether you tell me or not, doesn't change a thing. It's easier and faster for you to just tell me, but I can and I _will _ harvest that information from your dead processor!"

Solus felt dread, cold and heavy, enter her Spark. She hadn't realized her mind wasn't safe, the only way to make her mind useless…

She looked down at her sword. It was unique across the universe. She had forged it from the core of a star. Not just any star. The star of a solar system with no life. The first sun they had harvested successfully. The remaining heat served as her forge. It would be a present for Prima. To congratulated him on his new post-war found leadership. She had even designed a grip at the hilt for Prima to stow the Matrix of Leadership. She had embalmed it with her Energon, just like every other tool she had made. The sword was obedient to her but also usable only to a Prime. And now she would use this to her advantage.

Standing up straight to her full height. She gave her brother a gracious smile. He tilted his head confused at the sudden change in her demeanor. She extended her sword out in the old salute Prima used to give them. Megatronous snarled in anger, taking the salute as an insult. He began to power up the Requiem Blaster. Solus despised the weapon. She had designed it for her brother Megatronous, but even she it's creator couldn't will the weapon to her. It was too overpowered. Sometimes, Solus imagined that its power came from Megatrnous himself.

Solus quickly calculated and aiming correctly she threw the sword over Megatrnous shoulder with all her might.

"Missed." Megatronous laughed. But Solus wasn't aiming for him. Closing her eyes, she quickly sent a plea to her father Primus. _Keep them safe. _She raised her hand and willed her creation to her. The sword obeyed and swiftly returned to its creator, turning at her will, and sinking to the hilt in her head, destroying her processor.

The momentum sent Solus over the edge of the building's edge and her body fell into the hard surface below. Megatronous watched; cold, hard anger flowing through his energy lines. Solus had taken her secret to the grave. There was no way to get the information from her processor now.

Screams, and gasps filled the street as civilians began to circle around her. Some looked up and found him.

"He did it! "

"He killed his own sister!"

"You have fallen from grace! You're no Prime!"

Megatronous stepped away from the edge. Yes, like always, he had fallen from grace. But one day, he will come back. To destroy Optimus and Alpha who he had not been able to locate either. Only a Prime could harm him, because only a Prime, could wield Solus's weapons, the only ones that can harm him.

"From now on, you will address me as The Fallen!" He roared. And with that he phased into the next dimension. He would wait. Optimus could not hide forever, and one day, _he_ would be the most powerful in the universe.

Alpha Trion was immersed in his own thoughts when the piercing cry rose from the bundle in his arms. He gasped as he felt the hollowness his sister left and he knew that Optimus was feeling it too. Optimus only had his mother's bond and now he had none. A terrible pain no Sparkling should have to feel on it's first day on Cybertron.

He rocked and cooed at the child trying to comfort him, but it was no use. _What if? _Alpha Trion wondered. He tentatively opened his chest plates enough for his Spark to reach. Alpha Trion willed his spark to reach out for the new one. A tendril of light reached out, curling, caressing, until a new light reached out. And then there was a flash. And the two became one. A parental bond was formed and Alpha Trion was assaulted with the sensation.

Suddenly, he was connected to a new life. The child was all light, all pureness, and all wonder. He was hungry and sleepy. Alpha Trion sent a pulse of reassurance, of love, toward the new spark; over powering the empty feeling, the pain, that Solus's passing had caused.

Peace. Peace is what he received from Optimus.

_No. _Alpha Trion thought as the first rays of sunlight began to break through the cold mist and catch on Optimus's finials.

Peace is what _Orion _brings. He corrected himself as he brought the child up higher to tuck Orion's face in the nook of his neck, away from the sun, as he continued to walk towards the Iconian Hall of Records.

As a new dawn broke over Cybertron, as it burned with it the memories of the Primes, and as it signaled a new beginning, Alpha Trion swore to protect and educate his new son.

Orion Pax.


End file.
